Water and power

Desalination plants play a vital role in arid regions such as the Middle East, but the process is extremely energy intensive and expensive. Meanwhile in water-short China, laws require that new power plants must provide their own freshwater. Tackling both problems, an Israeli firm recently built an innovative desalination plant in the Hangu district of Tianjin, to supply water to power the steam boilers in a nearby state-run power plant. The desalination process is powered by waste heat from the power plant. Seawater is heated with steam, then evaporated to produce freshwater and table salt. Some 20 per cent of the plant’s daily 200,000 cubic-metre freshwater output is used in the power plant’s steam boilers, and the rest provides drinking water to the local population, as mandated by law.

Healthy people in a healthy environment

Good health and well-being require a clean and harmonious environment where physical, psycho - logical, social and aesthetic factors are all given their due importance. These factors are affected by actions and choices which can secure considerable health benefits. The environment is thus not only important for its own sake, but as a resource for better living conditions and well-being.

What we’ve agreed: the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals

Green savings

What young people want

Water – the key to life

The air we breathe

Safer, quieter towns and cities of the future – reclaiming the streets